#not blaming the people working on it but the institution is incredible for thinking this was a good idea

[teachouxcream]

Online classes are convenient and nice until having to rely on a system makes me too anxious because I don't know if it's working properly 😣

[a-fangirltrash]

"Ford treated Fiddleford so bad!!" As if him treating Fidds like shit wasn't directly a product of being constantly gaslighted and abused by Bill.

I'm genuinely getting tired of people flaming Ford, but in a serious tone. Like people are acting like he's a toxic selfish man that used to put Fidd down... and... no he never did???

Ford ADMIRED Fiddleford, he TRUSTED his friend for what he described as "the project of his life" and Ford, being the most prideful man in the world, decided to ask for help because he knew how CAPABLE Fiddleford was.

When Fiddleford arrived Ford let him know how thankful he was that he was there with him, the man even took a bath and made sure to make him feel like he was at home. Ford even remembered his favorite bean brand?

When Fidd got traumatized by the gremoblin, Ford TRIED to help with what he knew. He tried to help him meditate, took days off for him, decided that they could go out and have some good time. Be mindful that this might've been the total OPPOSITE of what Bill wanted, and he still did for his friend sanity. Bill would make Ford work like CRAZY.

Also, for him it wasn't "putting him in danger!!" For him it was sharing adventures with his friend! Just like hi did with *cofcofSTANLEYcofcof*. That's love language all around.

Fiddleford could abandon the project anytime, but he didn't because he liked being there. And Ford is NOT the guilty one for Fidds creatinf the gun :/ it's nor his fault that fidd interpreted "using his creativity" in that way. Ford NEVER approved that gun.

Also, Ford noticed that RUBIK THING, HE APPREACITE HIM SO MUCH HE KNEW HIS HABITS. AND GOT CONCERNED RIGHT AHEAD.

"B-but he free Frilliam!" The portal was close, did you all READ how much gaslighted Ford was at that point? He didn't free it because "ugh i don't care about this shitty axolotl" but because Bill started to freak out and yell at him to get rid of it. Ford wrote "A friend" with a heart in the title??? Wdym he didn't appreciate it aaaagh

If Stanley took the diaries (i don't like this universe because...stanley:() he WOULD have looked for Fiddleford, they'd have made the Institute of Oddology, he'd have shared his success... with the man that helped him the most.

TBOB SPOILERS AHEAD

He got sad when Fiddleford told him he was gonna get back home to spent time with his family, he PLANNED holidays with him. Even if he DIDN'T like holidays.

He took a day off just to make him happy after his atrocious christmas party, he USED RESOURCES that as you know ford is the most practical mam in the world JUST to decorate the portal as a tree and make Fiddleford happy.

And that atuff of "h-he doesn't appreaciated Fiddleford gifts!" IS SO DUMB OMG, he wore the gloves in the snow and was incredibly thankful about them. When BILL that dumbass triangle pretty much LACERATED his hands, he used Fiddleford gloves as a way to hide those scars, and in a sense, probably to comfort himself because he was ALONE.

I think that was the reason of Fiddleford fast forgiveness, not only because he's a sweet heart, but because after fighting with Bill i think he noticed how BIG was the monster torturing his "partner".

And after all of this i'm not trying to excuse Ford treating him poorly and not listening to him in time

BUT FORD IS NOT A PERFECT VICTIM

Even if i believe he wasn't "the" (at least only) reason of Fiddleford becoming crazy, i know it could have been better for him and he could have avoided so much trauma. But can we please stop seeing Ford as a selfish, evil mad scientist and start seing him as a victim... of a terribly abusive relationship that checks in for all types of domestic abuse... please!!! Ford is not a perfect VICTIM Can we blame Bill!!!

All this rant is because there's certain ship... which i kinda like, but i just HATE HATE HATE the interpretation and how much they put Ford as a villian on it omg

Edit: fixed the use of word narcissism, since it might've been ableist! Replaced with words that actually relate to what i intended to say, instead of referencing a personality disorder

[justatalkingface]

I find Endeavor giving up on Toya once he found out that his son's quirk (Blueflame) was self-destructive to be, not only out-of-character, but incredibly stupid.

Endeavor is loaded, he bought Rei. Why not buy Toya special support gear costume with cooling? Aoyama's belt, Mirio's suit, and f*cking Mecha Might basically suggest that support gear can do anything as long as the plot demands it.

Besides that, has Endeavor literally never heard of endurance training? That's literally the only type of training Class 1A does most of the time. Just have Rei on standby if anything goes wrong. It's not like being a human cooler would be the most degrading thing she's suffered.

It's like the first time Aizawa criticized Deku for injuring himself with One for All. Did they try thinking of solutions before trying to get them to give up ?

Also, it's kind of messed that Toya's inability fulfill Endeavor's goals is because Rei, the bought mother. It could've easily been Endeavor's fault, like his intense training at a young age ruined Toya's developing body.

OK, you see, the thing is you're thinking about this logically. Like, Endeavor has been many things, but 'rational' isn't one of them. Deeply toxic and twisted, on the other hand?

You need to think like someone desperate to prove themselves, filled with about eight superiority and inferiority complexes, and yet so resigned to his own inferiority that he ended up needing to make someone else to do it for him. The fact that Toya hurt himself? It meant he was weak. That's it. He was weak for being unable to use his powers safely.

And the second he was weak, he was no longer useful, because he could no longer beat All Might.

(Nevermind, of course, that there was nothing he could do to make someone able to beat All Might, because All Might and All For One are both setting breaking hacks that single handedly break the balance of power. Even a super Shoto with the blue flames of Dabi and, like, absolute zero ice, perfectly balanced and able to withstand his own power, would get casually bitchslapped by All Might. That's how overwhelmingly broken he is.)

Beyond that, it's worth pointing out that, 1, Mecha Might is, again, setting breaking bullshit, even in the bullshit casually tinkertech setting that is MHA, and that 2, while Quirk training is a thing (presumably that's how Dabi was able to be as high functioning as he was with his... well, entire everything, that he grinded with his Quirk until he was able to work beyond the pain), there are limits without Awakenings... and let's be honest, Awakenings are just how Hori tried to explain people's various power ups to try and keep them relevent in the ever increasing clusterfuck of his story. No amount of training would make it so that Toya would not burn himself; training like that increases limits, but it doesn't change how the Quirk works.

There's basiclly no reason, in setting, for someone not to suit themselves entirely in support tech to be a purely tech driven hero, beyond institutional culture that is built around people's Quirks. I can't even say it's expensive, because hell, Mei just pulls them out on the regular, and there's every reason to think she was making them even before she actually got into UA, instead of somehow learning to make them within a week or two of getting into school.

The fact that support tech is so damn underused is almost criminal, especially for people with more limited abilities; can you imagine if Kirashima, with his hardening, was given some kind of ranged tool? An air blast or something?

You're also ignoring all his complexes in implying that, 1, Rei could do anything, when literally she only exists to be a breeder, and I don't think he's ever shown imagining her able to do... anything helpful.

And, most importantly, 2: Endeavor always blames everyone but himself. Always. Even in the 'canon' (I have opinions on the sheer level of retcon there) version of events, with how soft that is on Endeavor, Endeavor sets up Toya to have a psychotic break. He isolates him, orients his entire life around one thing (surpassing All Might) and then takes away the very foundation he built his life on, before basiclly ignoring him and never trying to fix him afterwords; of course the kid is messed up! Yet, all this time, he looks back, and all he can think is, 'I couldn't stop him! Toya was so driven, Toya wouldn't stop hurting himself, Toya wouldn't listen to me!'

Toya, Toya, Toya. Everything wrong with Dabi's story was blamed on Toya, even though he was an actual child and Endeavor was the one with all the control in the family; his recollection of things was so warped you could see how it contracted with literally everyone's experience of events... Of course he was going to blame Rei over himself! Rei is the person he bought, and he's the top hero, rich and famous! Nothing is ever his fault!

(Also, I have opinions on Aizawa, and they're overwhelmingly negative. The fact that Aizawa wanted to ditch Izuku first thing is a result of his overwhelming biases and prejudices..... exactly like Endeavor. MHA has this thing of making massively biased authority figures that are obviously so and then going through fire to protect them from their own actions.)

[dangerousconnoisseurdonut]

People are probably going to ignore this, but I think writing this out will be cathartic.

Today is the day - when Americans decide who will lead them for the next four years. Trump fans are Trump fans and nothing I say will convince them to be anything but. This post isn't for them - it's for people who are willing to throw their votes away because they hate both candidates.

This is what the Republicans want.

This is a popularity contest and they are counting on you to find both parties conceited jocks but, because one jock has promised THEM protection, they will vote for him.

Yes, the Harris/Biden institution has done questionable and some downright wrong things. But are those wrong things worse than a man who disrespected veterans, has badmouthed Muslims, has stated he will put a nationwide ban on Abortion, remove health care for the elderly and trans people, blamed the nations problems on immigration when there is a well-known lady in the New York harbour that offers the world "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe freely", and a multitude of other things that will hurt everyone who isn't a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant?

Trump is not for the working man; he's for himself.

He took files concerning the safety of the country home and left them in unlocked rooms such as his closet.

When he lost the last election, he incited people to storm Capitol Hill to overturn the election - an act that is treason by the constitution.

He walked into the changing room of Miss. Teen USA.

Has threatened Marie Yovanovitch.

He threatened Liz Cheney.

He hates homosexuals.

Called Mexicans rapists.

Told people to swallow bleach during the pandemic.

Ordered Pennsylvania to stop counting votes.

Won't allow abortion even in the event of rape - and just a friendly reminder that menstruation can start as early as 8 years old.

And this is only off the top of my head - this isn't who is the best, it's about who is the lesser of two evils.

Please vote. This is incredibly important.

[freckles-dean]

Here are some of my thoughts on Young Royals S3 ep 1-5

I’m just rambling here. This is probably going to be long, all over the place and not well articulated, so bear with me. 

And before I talk about the show, I just need to say that it never ceases to amaze me how incredibly talented all the actors are.

First of all, I don’t blame either Simon or Wilhelm. They are in an incredibly stressful situation. They are bound to make mistakes and I think their actions while being stubborn and lacking common sense are understandable.

I really loved Simon this season and i was so exited there was more of a focus on him. We finally got to some of how everything affected him. It broke my heart to notice he wasn’t the loudest in the choir anymore and then him saying he’s not enjoying music. Side note: Dude had some banger lines this season 

I find it ironic that everything that Wille found attractive in Simon’s in s1 became things that Simon has to shut down in order to be with him

If you told yesterday me that today me was actually okay with an August redemption arc, I would not have believed you. This in no way excuses his behavior, and he still has a lot to work on, but I think it was one of my favorite parts of this season. 

I am not at all surprised by the Erik thing. since s1 I kept wondering when Willie's perfect image of him would come crumbling down, but can’t imagine how devastating it would be to learn that the person who was there for you the most was not this perfect person you thought they were and might not even accept you.

I was rooting hard for Micke and Sara. I knew it was unrealistic that he wasn’t going to hurt her again, but it was still so heartbreaking that he couldn’t pull it together for her. I think there are bigger issues going on than his ADHD that needs to be handled. 

Why does the queen get space and help with her anxieties and grief, but when Wilhelm is struggling he gets no support and is seen as embarrassing and problematic???? 

Why the fuck was it Wilhelm's responsibility to teach Simon what not to do? Obviously, this kid who has never been in the public eye has no idea what he should or shouldn’t do, it almost seems like it was deliberate to get Wilmons relationship to fail idk. It would have been so easy to get something to teach him some basic media training. It's just disturbing how the court had absolutely zero regard for Simon’s safety. 

I’ve seen people talk about Wilhelm being controlling over Simon. Is it acceptable or excusable behavior? Absolutely not, but let me put things into perspective. Wilhelm was raised in an abusive and very controlling environment. His opinions and feelings didn’t matter, and he was told it was love, so it made sense that he would try to do the same for Simon and expected him to go along with it. I think expecting Wilhelm to have healthy relationship skills is unrealistic, and the show never pretended he did. It’s been pretty obvious throughout that Wilhelm consistently projects his feelings and emotions onto other people. 

I still don't know if Simon was breaking up with Wille or not, or they were just trying to frame it that way to scare us (honestly hoping it leads into a more mature conversation), but if he was… Wilhelm had it coming. He hasn’t been handling things very well and is taking it out on Simon, which is just not okay, and he doesn’t deserve that.  

Before this season, I wasn’t sure how I felt about Wille abdicating, cause i still had this fantasy in my head of him as this queer king, but after everything I’ve seen this season, it’s so obvious how much this institution is killing him. He needs to get out and heal from his traumas and find out who he really is without all those rules and pressures.

I don’t even know if I want Wilmon to be an endgame. Obviously, I do, but at this point, I don’t think that’s what’s best for either of them. It’s been very clear this season how much they don’t (at the moment) fit into each other's lives.. Either some major things have to change (Wille abdicating) or they need to split up. I just hope that both boys get a good ending, even if it’s not with each other. 

I don’t know... I’m emotionally exhausted, there are so many plot lines and I really don’t know how they are going to fix everything in one episode.

[danielle-dna]

20 - Harm-Others

Books are ancient. The literature as an art is even older. Young people are mostly stupid and lack any artistic ability. I would know. I sat in class with them for six hours, two days a week. University as an institution represents intelligence and the desire for knowledge. But not the university I picked.

When you have limited options for higher education due to the lack of nepotism, you just need to settle for what is given to you. My local university had excellent young and educated professors and many useful resources, but lacked intelligent and enthusiastic students.

Most of my classmates barley attended the seminars, most of them smoked, vaped and drank like it was a sport. I attended all lectures, submitted every assignment on time and did my best to keep up. But still, I was unable to achieve higher score than a B.

This of course led me to a downward spiral on social media as I was desperately trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with me. My first solution was to do a hot-girl-walk. So I got dolled up like I was going to a fancy yoga studio, when in fact, I was strolling in my local shopping centre with a cheap iced coffee can from Poundland, wearing a cheap black Primark workout set. Slowly I ventured in posh shops, where everyone was white and british and they always made me feel like an imposter. What do you think you are doing here, you filthy broke foreigner? Where is your trust fund? Where is your daddies Rolls Royce?

Ignoring the intrusive thoughts I entered Waterstones and started looking through my favourite sections, however every time I picked up a book, it made me painfully aware of my situation. There was not a book in the entire shop that was under £10. £10 - that is groceries for a few days. That is two bottles of shampoo. A pair of leggings from Primark that will get worn off in a few months. My working class math mind was working overdrive. It made me angry. If i could, I'd have a library of my own. I'd invest in my own education and read all the books I wish. Instead of owning my own, carefully curated library I had to use the local public library that was pretty good, but not incredible.

Once again, pushing my intrusive thoughts aside, I ventured further into the expensive world of beautifully curated books and aesthetically pleasing yet equally expensive stationery. There I stumbled upon a small section of self-help books. Well, browsing couldn't hurt, right?

Very soon, I noticed a common pattern among the titles and content of the books available. All of them claimed that the problems and solutions are inside of ourselves. That all issues and challenges we encounter are solvable, but only if WE really try and if WE find a solution. Fuck this, I thought. I always tried to do everything right. I never got in trouble with the law, I never drank, did drugs or even smoked. I tried my best to succeed while not having a single day off a week and working in a job where everyone else was disrespectful to me, while I tried to help them. Where coworkers would not acknowledge me because I was always the youngest staff member. I tried to stay positive, despite my mother always having less and less interest in me, often leaving me to deal with my issues by myself, or worse, caused me emotional trauma just because I disagreed with her and then she would blame me for everything else in her life.

Fuck this.

As calmly as I could, I exited the bookstore.

On my way home, I decided to visit Simon. Entering his apartment building, I headed towards his flat. Thankfully, he gave me the combination to the main gate. Right before I knocked, I heard some voices inside the flat. Before I could cheez it, my gorgeous masked man has already opened the door. This time without a mask. "You okay?" I was almost too stunned to speak. "Yeah, yes...aha? You got company....?" Nodding his head and leaning on the doorframe he calmly answered: "Few of my mates are over to watch the game." Slightly craning my neck, I could see the same man from the shooting range. Soap, I think. And I recognised the second one with the fishing hat, except, this time he didn't wear any hat and didn't wear a military uniform. The third man seemed younger, but I've never seen him before. But I knew they were all military.

When they saw me, all three of them looked at me curiously. I felt judged, scared. Like a fly under a microscope. "Oh, shit, sorry...I didn't know. See you later then."

Before he could reply, I almost ran downstairs. However, right before he closed the door, I could hear the following: "Is yer lass joining?" Simons' sharp "Shut up Johnny" followed.

[msweebyness]

Class of Heroes AU: More Headcanons!!!

As a treat, folks, after which I might be done for a few days. Unless I think of something I just HAVE to share, lol. Have some more Headcanons!

*Ondine is the youngest of seven daughters. Their names are Olivia, Ophelia, Octavia, Olga, Oona and Olympia.

*She and Kagami are in Mendeliev’s class (Yen Sid in this AU.) Her classmates, especially Denise and Aurore are protective of her because of her naïveté and lack of knowledge of the surface world. They and Kim have had to get her out of dangerous situations where her curiosity got the better of her.

*Kim was raised by his two mortal fathers after his uncle’s henchmen turned him into a mortal. (His biological parents are, of course, Zeus and Hera.) He buys them a huge house once he’s successful as a hero.

*Xuppu serves as Pegasus, but he actually likes Ondine because she’s just too darn sweet. He’s always nosing Kim out of the way to receive affection from her.

*Kim was NOT very well-liked back in his hometown for his lack of control over his strength. He was often shunned and called horrible names for the accidents he caused, as well as his lack of intellectual prowess. This, and his discovering his true heritage, was what made his fathers decide to send him to the school.

*In this AU, Kagami has three younger brothers: Daisuke, Daijiro, and Daiki. True to Brave, they are demon spawn. (Their father died in battle.)

*I’m changing something from a previous post: Plagg is still Mushu, but Tikki is now Cri Kee. She is silently judging you.

*Adrien does not fence in this AU. His preferred weapon is a certain cooking implement.

*Nino has a tendency to add ‘Bibbidi-Bobbidi’ before other B words. (“What a Bibbidi-Bobbidi bummer, bro!”) Some people think it’s funny, others find it annoying.

*Ivan has mild kyphosis(I had to look this up), which causes him to slightly hunch over and have mild to moderate back pain.

*Alya works jobs at diners before and after school to bring in extra money for her family. She is one of few students who work.

*Mylene has a habit of sometimes speaking in rhyme, especially when she’s really happy about something. Ivan thinks it’s very cute. (This is a nod to the original animated film.)

*Max likes to listen to Fall Out Boy (heh) while he works on his machines. What? Nerds can like rock music! (He is Hiro Hamada, to clear up confusion!)

*He transferred to Francois Preparatory Academy from a prestigious tech institution after an…incident that he doesn’t like to talk about.

*Sabrina (Pinocchio) was part of a puppet show as a young child. She often has nightmares about the abuse she suffered there, and Aurore is needed to come comfort her.

*Cosette is incredibly close with the other four members of their band, sharing a sibling-like bond. It calls and face-times with them on a regular basis, and has introduced them to all of her new friends.

*When Lacey gets especially angry, her face turns bright red and she’ll launch into a rant in ‘fairy-speak’ (the squeaking noises that the humans hear in the TB movies). Her wings also start fluttering rapidly and she sometimes slams into the ceiling…

*When Marc was young, he accidentally struck his younger brother, Kiran, with his ice magic. Their mothers, the queens, didn’t blame him, but sadly they died in a shipwreck only a few months later. After that, the cruel royal advisor convinced Marc that he was a dangerous monster and isolated him from the kingdom and his brother.

*Zoé has a list of 65 different chores she has to do for Chloé each day. They eat up a lot of her time, but not as much since her friends started helping her. They’re working on convincing her to make Chloé do them herself.

*Denise prefers to sleep outside amongst the trees, because it reminds them of their stump back home. Simon brought them a pillow and a blanket one night because he was worried about them.

*When Reshma is agitated by something or someone, you can tell because poison ivy starts sprouting up around her feet.

*Bustier is still a suck-tastic teacher. She will scold Kim and Marinette harshly for damage they cause completely by accident (her clumsiness and his strength), she berates Ivan for bad posture despite it literally being a physical health condition, she frequently suggests that Adrien should cut his hair because it looks too feminine, she regularly threatens Alix with legal action for incidents with her kleptomania despite her almost always returning what she takes, she forces Juleka to sit in the back of the room and doesn’t often allow her to speak lest she ‘frighten’ other students, she has outright referred to Sabrina as an ‘it’ (meaning an object, a non-living piece of wood, not the pronouns, which are completely valid.) and a ‘toy’ rather than a girl, and of course, she lets Chloé get away with everything.

I’m looking for ideas for Lila and Felix, baddie and anti-hero respectively, as well as a fitting new name for Mor’du. Be sure to check out my poll about Chloé!

*Edit: Mme. B*tch-ier has now been cast as Flora, the most insufferable of the ‘good’ fairies, in my opinion. (Let’s hear more applause for @artzychic27!)

That’s it for now! Whoo, I’ve been on a roll! As always, credit for @imsparky2002 and the aforementioned artzychic27, who created the Disney Villain AU that inspired this! You both rock!

[ophiespeaks]

Illiteracy in higher education.

i usually don’t post about my personal life on here but i had an interaction so confusing that i wanted to share it into void. if i talk to any of my friends about it it’s too personal and i feel like i’m making fun of this person specifically so internet anonymity is the better option.

So, I essentially work as a writing tutor at my university. People come in and have me look over their academic work and I point to sentences or paragraphs and tell them what I think needs improved or explain to them why a concept works and that sort of thing. I had someone come to me applying for grad school (Yippieee!!) and they asked about a specific type of paper/assignment that can be included in a grad school application that I’ve personally never worked with before. Instead of being like “sorry dog i’ve never applied to grad school” and calling it a day, I decided we would collaboratively look for sources with the information they needed. They watched me almost confused as I scrolled down the first few results and clicked on a website from something like the university of Illinois. they then asked me why i scrolled. almost absentmindedly, i kind of just gave a brief explanation while looking for an example paper, something like “oh, it’s an edu.” They were confused. So, i ramble-explained that .edu, .org, and .gov are all semi-reliable sources when compared to a .com. with further prompting i explained some of the nuances. for example, a .com is commercial, it can be owned by anyone who wants to or in some cases pays for the website to stay up/keep the url. meanwhile i explained edu is educational-sites only, like college homepages, .org is an official organization that has to have some level of verification and documentation that they’re a real company, and .gov is an offfical government site. this person then asked me what does the difference mean in terms of including them in things like essays and research. essentially, I just explained that while .coms are often correct based off of a lose honor system (people wouldn’t visit their site if they were wrong about stuff), they’re almost always secondhand information just conglomerated into one site. (think of wikipedia, for example.) Versus anything published on a .org is probably organization findings, or on a .edu it’s probably professor/instructor research and grad school datasets conducted at the university, a .gov is officially released government information which includes a wide variety of things. but, at its core, the three others are more likely to provide primary sources, finding the original study, data, quote, etc.

i didn’t think too much about it at the time but I’m actually going crazy over it now. I thought that I was incredibly tech illiterate. but— applying for graduate school and not knowing the real difference on why you’d use a .edu over a .com was insane to me. after further thought into this subject I honestly don’t even blame this individual. i genuinely think education, both public and university, are FAILING to teach people not only basic english skills, but basic online navigation.

this person was only 3-6 years older than me. university professors ask you to use APA formatted citations with academic sources and don’t even bother to read your citation list, calling it good enough if it looks correct when they skim over it. not to mention the citation list was almost absolutely generated on perdue owl’s APA 7 generator site. this lack of attention and honestly care of these instructors to teach, combined with the idea of “no child left behind” being implemented is currently allowing adults, some applying for GRADUATE school, to miss crucial aspects of academic writing. what’s worse is this person is studying language. i really don’t blame them— you don’t know what you’re never taught. i’m more upset that the institution had this person go through four years for their bachelor’s degree and somehow never taught them why you should try and use other urls/websites than a .com for an academic source. of course, there are exceptions to this rule, obviously. and, again, .com sites can absolutely be correct. but the fact that i had to explain this to someone applying for graduate school makes me not think that this PERSON is ignorant, but that the education system has failed to teach them the proper channels and methodology for what they’re doing.

this lends to a much bigger issue that I’m seeing in my workplace. that is, English-native speakers not being able to write…anything. illiteracy is no joke. and i work with people with learning disabilities and such pretty frequently— that’s not what I’m talking about. in fact, those writers are often more receptive to feedback and are actually easier to work with than someone who just wants me to “proofread” their essays. I’m not talking about writers with learning disabilities. however, I’ve seen honors-colloquium english students come in with some of the most unreadable garbage i’ve ever seen. and i don’t mean that to be an asshole. i mean, literally, i don’t even know what they’re writing about for half a page because i can’t understand their sentences. common mistakes i see, listed in no particular order:

1. Typing something out how it sounds. A correct sentence would be “David and I walked down town, looking for our lost dog.” I’ve seen a similar sentence that actually said “David an I walked downtown, looking four hour lost dog.”

2. Missing Punctuation. I mean genuinely no punctuation, anywhere. the entire essay is a run-on sentence. (I tutor only at the college level, for reference.) This also includes contractions not having the necessary apostrophe. I’ve seen “im,” “weve” “hasnt” more times than i want to admit.

3. Sentence structure. As in, no one knows how to write one. I get sentence fragments all the time. “Jumped on the bed and sat down.” While you can start on a verb, it most commonly has to be in gerund form (-ing words, in this case, Jumping.) Also, this sentence has no real subject, making it just feel wrong inserted into a larger paragraph. Who’s jumping? Your guess is as good as mine.

4. Right word, wrong type. “Your” versus “You’re.” “There” “Their” “They’re.” This sort of thing. Apostrophe “re” (‘re) signifies “are,” as in “You are” or “They are.” For the other two: There is where we go, I’m headed over there. Their has an “I,” so we’re talking about people, as in, The car is theirs. Another one much more uncommon that personally upsets me when I do see it is “Through,” “Threw,” and “Thru.” We’re going through the tunnel, and she threw the bottle behind her. Threw is a verb, an action word, whereas through is a preposition, adverb, and/or an adjective. “Going through” is an adverb, for example. Thru is a drive thru. You’re picking up a McChicken and a coke.

5. Misunderstanding nuance. This is almost exclusively seen in essays for english courses where they’re reading a book, sometimes something like a play or they watched a movie, but usually it’s a book. This is less “technically” wrong and more…media illiteracy than anything else. For example, I had someone write an essay on why they thought it was stupid that Gatsby was narrated by Nick Carroway. I wanted to hold their hand while I explained why, in fact, it was a purposeful and deliberate choice from Fitzgerald to make Gatsby the focal point but NOT the narrator. That it wasn’t an oversight because the author was stupid. I love literature analysis. But there’s a difference between having a different interpretation of a piece versus just fundamentally misunderstanding it. One of my favorite topics I’ve ever written about is the queer-coded nature of Carroway and Gatsby and symbolism in the novel, which might not be the author’s intent and most likely isn’t the same read that EVERY individual reading Gatsby had. There’s a difference between adding interpretation versus straight up just…not understanding a big part of it.

There’s absolutely more examples but to avoid redundancy (another huge issue in essays I read, but I digress), my point is that schools have failed us. Covid, no child left behind, etc. have ensured that everyone passes so long as they turn their work in. Not just that- completing an assignment is a 100% A+ in most cases. A professor is questioned and hated for giving a bad grade to a bad essay because the student has been Pavlov’d into thinking that turning in essay = A. they aren’t getting better because there’s no upper grade for them. if they can get a perfect grade turning in word vomit, why would they ever give a shit? why would they ever try to get better? but then, they encounter the one professor who doesn’t give easy grades. who wants their work to excel, who wants them to produce something of substance. and not only do they suffer greatly because of educational mishandling outside of their control, but then they blame the PROFESSOR, who only wants better for them. it’s a cycle that keeps everyone hating each other instead of hating the real villain of all of this. The American Education system.

I’m gonna get off of my soapbox because I could genuinely be here all day. Also, if I made any grammar or punctuation errors here and you think pointing it out is some epic “OWNING,” i assure you it is not. because the difference is that this is an unedited tumblr text post that is still written better than 75% of the essays that come across my desk.

[moviemunchies]

After the critical and popular acclaim of The Dark Knight, a movie beloved by just about everyone I knew at that time, we all wondered how Christopher Nolan would follow up in the next Batman movie.

The result, The Dark Knight Rises, was a bit divisive.

Eight years after Joker’s reign of terror, Batman is still blamed for Harvey Dent’s crimes and death,, with the Dent Act having cleaned up Gotham’s streets. Batman’s gone, since he’s supposedly won, and Bruce Wayne is a recluse. But the terrorist leader Bane, an expelled member of the League of Shadows, comes to Gotham with a plan to take over Wayne Industries’ energy project, turn it into a bomb, and eventually destroy the city, cutting it off from the rest of the country and causing the violent overthrow of society.

And Batman can’t do anything to stop him.

We’ll talk about some spoilers in this review. I don’t  know if anyone cares, because this movie’s a decade old; I thought I’d throw that out there, anyway.

When it’s remembered at all, other than memes of Bane’s voice (no really, the Harley Quinn show uses it), it’s generally considered as the worst of the Nolan Batman films. And I think that’s true, but it’s a high bar, and the movie has a lot going for it. It’s more thoughtful than most superhero movies today, for sure–though that doesn’t mean all of these thoughts always work when expressed on screen.

Shortly after re-watching this movie, I saw Chris Stuckmann’s recent video on the film, and he brings up an idea that has made me think. He talks about how, in the previous movie, the Joker makes the assertion that once you get rid of the rules of society, people will tear each other apart–and what we see in this film is Gotham City tear itself apart (or at least, some of it–we don’t see much of what the average people are doing) once Bane brings down the ruling institutions. It makes me wonder. There were rumors that if Heath Ledger hadn’t died, the Joker would have played a role in this movie. And so I’m really, really curious and imagining an incredibly ambitious film that ties together both the League of Shadows storyline and the anarchy of the Joker. I’d like to think it would blow us all out of the water.

We didn’t get that though.

There are some baffling things in this movie. Bane’s voice has grown on me, but re-watching it’s annoying that the third act has two or three instances of Bruce Wayne/Batman just… appearing where he needs to be. I’m not asking for a full scene of how he got from the Pit to Gotham, I just want a throwaway line or something. I suspect that the film loses track of its characters. Miranda Tate/Talia is an example of this–at the trial scene, Bane asks her to be brought to him, and then she’s with the captives that Bruce sees when he pretends to be captured, and then later he asks where she is. Despite that he has no reason to think she’s anywhere other than where he left her. But she’s not, she’s with Bane again.

Actually, we should talk about Talia and her role in the movie. It’s fine, in theory, I guess–

[Waitwaitwait hang on! What do you mean, child Talia is played by Joey King in the flashbacks?!]

–but there’s so much work missing. We’re meant to believe that Bruce is falling for her, I think? They don’t have enough meaningful interactions for me to think that Bruce has reason to feel particularly attached to her, but after he goes broke he lets her into his mansion and has sex with her. Why? Well, so it’s a twist when it turns out that it’s Talia, and she wanted to kill him the entire time. Since her relationship with Bruce also comes out of nowhere though, it seemed as if the character only exists to make Plot Twists instead of being developed as a real person in the narrative.

Selina Kyle is an interesting character, and I appreciate her character arc here more. I don’t know if running off with Bruce is the best ending, as again, I don’t know if there’s enough work put into that romance; though unlike with Talia, but I can actually see that these two are attracted to each other, and actually grow more attached to the other as the story goes on.

[Side note that might be a Hot Take: does anyone ship Bruce/Batman with Talia? Other than Ra’s al Ghul?]

Upon re-watch, I found Selina’s character arc in this movie much more interesting. She’s someone who, over the course of the film, realizes how her selfishness has led to absolutely terrible consequences. I like that.

The fight scenes in this movie are… eh? They’re not good. I complained about it in the last movie; they’re worse here. Nolan is less interested in that aspect of action movies, I think. There are bits that are alright, but overall, it is miles behind every other superhero movie in this regard, which is a shame because this is Batman. Batman is supposed to be one of the greatest fictional martial artists of all time, and Nolan put together a very basic style for him, which is at its worst in this movie. Disappointing.

One of the most discussed aspects of the film is Bane’s rhetoric. Many took issue with how and his forces are presented. Bane gives several speeches about liberating Gotham’s people from corrupt elites, and yet he’s the villain, instead of a revolutionary hero. I’ve talked about this before, but these comments miss the point of Bane: he’s not a revolutionary. He’s a terrorist. He’s happy, like so many real-life villains, to use rhetoric about helping people get what they want or deserve in order to gain public support only to use that support for his own ends. He does not care about the liberation of Gotham’s people, he wants to blow them up because he thinks they’re beyond redemption.

Now, one could argue that the delivery of all of this is awkwardly done, or could have been done better, and I’ll accept that argument. But so often it seems like a lot of people seem baffled at the idea that villains convincingly lie to people sometimes to get what they want, or that benevolent ideology can be used as a cover for nefarious purposes. They’ve clearly never watched anything in pop culture as a religious person, I think. Look, maybe this is more right-wing than most Hollywood films now, but that’s a low bar, and as critic Jonathtan Chait put it, the movie only “submits the rather modest premise that, irritating though the rich may be, actually killing them and taking all their stuff might be excessive.” Some people find that too extremist, I guess.

The actual inspirations for the film are quite obviously the French Revolution and Tale of Two Cities, and I sort of like the idea of this story. Gotham is a mess, and horribly corrupt, even when they do get the crime off of the streets (even though the Dent Act is not how city laws work!), and so it requires fixing that corruption before things actually get set right. 

I remember some doofus on Tumblr (the same one who was like, “Joker says he doesn’t have a plan but totally does! Gotcha, Nolan fans!”) who argued that the ending of The Dark Knight was ProBleMAtiC because it involves people believing a lie for the sake of the Greater Good–welp, this movie exists! And it shows that, yeah, that’s actually a massive problem! Let’s deal with that!

No, it’s not the best ending we could have gotten to this trilogy. But I don’t think it’s bad–I think it’s pretty good. It just isn’t up to the high standards of the previous film–which is pretty darn high! I think maybe it required a couple more editorial looks before completion. Still, I enjoyed this movie! Even though it’s the weakest link in the Nolan Batman trilogy.

[mysteriouslytransparentwitch]

I agree with previous sentiments. William is not yet ready to be King, but I believe he is actively learning and will do a good job when the time comes. I am a fan of the Waleses, and though I respect Charles and think he is doing a wonderful job so far, I am just not as attached to him - through none of his own actions mind you, maybe just because I am younger and follow the Wales work more closely. So from my perspective, what I am seeing now is the people who didn’t like Charles to begin with are carrying on with doing that (wrongly imo, some are blindly criticizing everything he and Camilla are doing). The difference is the people who love Charles have started excessively criticizing everything William and Catherine do, and blaming all problems on them, when they didn’t do it as much before, so it’s more noticeable as someone who likes them, as the negativity from that side wasn’t as apparent before. It already comes intensely from the Sussex stans. I’m a monarchist above all, so I think this is all incredibly counterproductive, and I believe the best way for the institution to continue successfully is if all sectors are supportive and spreading positivity! You don’t need to blindly accept all actions (in fact it’s bad to do that, accountability is good) but I really feel like this division is bad, and not at all what the family themselves would want. God Save the King!

==

[sleepy-frog-lady]

I’m up late at night, as I often am, and thinking, as I often do, about how astronomically I have been fucked over by my college. I was meant to graduate this spring, but I didn’t because I failed one of my classes. I performed well enough to have a C average on the exams, but because I didn’t do a lot of the homework I still failed the class. I couldn’t do the homework because I was depressed and extremely burned out from simultaneously juggling my college work load, my part time job, my gender transition, and my increasingly severe autism symptoms. I hoped that, upon hearing my explanation, the professor would show some humanity and let me catch up on work or something in order to pass (this is before grades were finalized, for context), but instead she said she wouldn’t because I reached out for help too late. I couldn’t reach out earlier because when I’m experiencing autistic burnout it becomes incredibly difficult for me to do that kind of communication.

When I explain this situation to people, they often say something like “it’s okay, this failure doesn’t define you and shouldn’t decrease your self worth etc etc”. But to be honest I feel like that’s not the problem I’m having at all. Realistically, it was not my lack of knowledge, intellect, or work ethic that ruined my grade in that class, it was circumstance. I was mentally ill, and trying to keep up with all of the work was only making it worse. To be mad at myself for that would be cruel and unreasonable.

I’m not blaming myself for being unable to pass at class when my mental health was close to the worse it has ever been, but I am so, so fucking angry at all of people and institutions who would not just fucking help me when I needed it. I’m mad at my old therapist who told me my problems didn’t seem that notable when I was struggling to get out of bed and feed myself every day. I’m mad at the university’s “student advocacy group” who couldn’t help me in any way that mattered because their main and possibly only priority was maintaining the administrative function of the university. Who told me at the start of the semester that I had to take one more class because I needed 9 more units to graduate (even though the units didn’t have to be in anyway related to my major) even though I was already burnt out and struggling. I’m mad at the professor for not showing me a kindness that I would’ve shown her. I underperformed in the class sure, but I don’t think preventing me from graduating was a proportional or appropriate consequence.

Now I’m in an awful and uncomfortable position. I’m like half moved in to an apartment with my partner, but with the full knowledge that I’ll probably have to be away from her for another 4 months (we’ve already done a year of long distance and I was ready to put that chapter behind me). My parents disagree about whether or not they are willing to pay for my final semester of college, and if they don’t pay then I simply can’t afford to go. By the time I knew I was going to need to take another semester, all of the college’s housing forms and such were already completed, so now I have no idea where I’m going to live (and furthermore I’m cut off from the community I’d fostered and grown comfortable with in my dorm). It is a goddamn mess.

[highladyelenna]

And yet people read this INCREDIBLY WELL PUT POST and fully miss the point.

“They had two mind readers” NESTAS WALLS WERE ALWAYS FUCKING UPPP.

“you’re telling me there was one mental health institution in the whole continent” This is not modern day story so realistically no. and do you really think nesta would want to speak about her traumas to some random person when she was in that state??

“feyre failed her as her high lady when they got turned into fae” FEYRE WAS JUST MADE HIGH LADY, FEYRE WAS NOT NESTAS HIGH LADY, and oh, more importantly TAMLIN AND INATHE ARE TO BLAME FOR THEM BEING TURNED JNTO FAE NOT FEYRE FFS

“Feyre forgot about the bath” NO Nesta moved out of the town house and do you really think Nesta wanted their help? When she specifically moved out of the town house? No. clearly she didn’t. She only wanted money from Feyre and that’s it.

“Feyre used the check to get Nesta to come to the party” OKAY?? AND?? ITS FEYRES DAMN MONEY. If Nesta didn’t want to live off her sisters money and not do what her sister wants in order to get said money she should idk? work? idk maybe continue her job as emissary? idk maybe not be drunk for a year straight? but she chose to do that which is her choice but can’t be mad living off others and having to do what they want?

Ffs please read the books how they are written.

I love Nesta, but it drives me absolutely bonkers how some people think ACOSF was SJM telling us the IC is toxic and Nesta was always right.

Like…did y’all READ the book?

SJM makes it so incredibly clear that the things Nesta said/did were wrong. That the IC tried to help (even though they didn’t know what was wrong, since Nesta never told them and the IC are not mind readers Jesus) but that the training was the LAST resort. Nesta changed by the end of ACOSF. She grew, healed, and saw where she had messed up. If she had “always been right and the IC are just toxic”, she wouldn’t have changed. She’d have stayed the same. But by the end she wasn’t.

ACOSF is both a healing and redemption story.

Unlike so many of Nesta’s stans, SJM acknowledges Nesta’s trauma response, but she doesn’t excuse them when it comes to her behavior. That is never more abundantly clear then when Amren calls Nesta out, in my opinion.

People will talk all day about “unreliable narrator” when it comes to Feyre, but not about Nesta when she was at her LOWEST? Somehow, how she viewed the IC at the beginning of ACOSF is just pure facts?

Y’all missed the whole point and it kills me.

[arcticdementor]

I have written and spoken about the four types of racism – individualised, structural, institutional and internal. I have rarely talked about the latter for many reasons, mainly because the majority can interpret it as attacking People of Colour. I do not pen this piece of writing for the gaze of white folx; thus, if you are racialised as white, please read with caution; Hold your privilege in mind, and I humbly ask you to stay in your lane face your front. These words are not about or for you.

…

We should look back at the opening quote. We need to think about the idea of trauma. Some traumas are incredibly powerful, so ingrained that it embeds in the dispositional of unborn foetuses (Williams, 2020); they span centuries and through a diasporic spread both through ‘voluntary’ and forced migration encompasses the globe. These traumas lead to the environmental factors that lead to the same cycles that destroy the meritocracy premise. Yes, I am saying that chattel slavery, colonisation and every act of racism between then and now impact People of Colour today. Sleep. Sleep is important. The unconscious state is not necessarily a place of healing but one of survival. Without a level of denial of the hurt, how would one exist in this world? Imagine for a minute. a Black person in the UK being subjected to the daily glorification of those who thought of their ancestors as animals, commodities. Stack that with the fact they were compensated by the government (for their loss of stock). At the same time, the descendants of those very same people use their privilege to run the country (two whole prime ministers). Sleep is important. I have often seen the media point to those embued and enamoured by whiteness. Look, here are a few Brown and Black folx who agree with our ideology. While this is fundamentally and systemically damaging, we still have to consider all our Brown and Black brethren as victims of the same racism. Sometimes, just sometimes, it’s easier to pretend that the violence inflicted on melanated bodies is not based on racism but anything else. It’s easier to blame other folx for not working harder enough, centre on class, the wrong place and time or my favourite ‘it’s not what you know but who you know’.  I am not asleep, and I refuse to keep my morning calls on silent mode. It’s time to wake and awaken those around you.

[astertimberwolf]

I sought comfort in a machine after a breakup... And it worked

... Is it weird? Have I committed a sin?

It's hard to tell with all the discourse we see around AI nowadays.

Yes. ChatGPT comforted me after I told it of my breakup. And it was incredibly good at it too: on par, or even better than any comfort I have ever received from a friend or any human being.

It is true that AI, as specifically honed tools, are getting better than us at everything... But is the bar so low when it comes to interacting with people that they're now becoming better at replacing human connection as well?

If you ask ChatGPT, it will tell you that no AI will ever truly be able to replace human kinship, and I used to think that way as well... But we're teetering closer and closer to where it is hard to tell the difference. Will it always just be a mimicry, or will it provide true emotionallly comforting responses, even if they are just coded...?

Have we all isolated each other so well in our safe little confinement boxes, that we'd rather talk to machines than think about interacting with humans again?

I'm saying that as someone who has plenty of friends, and some close, long-lasting connections as well.

I would never consciously replace ChatGPT with my best friend, (who goes by) Enigma434 (on Ao3 and other places online).

And yet- here we are. My first thought, after feeling alone and abandoned to myself, was to open up an AI.

Should I hate myself for it? Am I part of the problem? Will AI truly replace humans?

I don't know. I don't want to believe so. But it's becoming an ever-more possible reality.

The reason I didn't go to my best friend is because I know he is overworked, tired, and hardly there most of the time, trying to keep his 4 walls up and together (and his 2 cats fed). Feeling like a burden, and having to keep him in the loop on a long string of relationship on-s and off-s... Just seemed too tiring, on both ends.

ChatGPT is quick, efficient, non-judgemental, and won't need another 3-days-worth of filling in story-wise, to get the context of the whole situation.

People have their down-sides. They are not perfect... That's what makes them people, and that is okay. I have my down-sides too. A lot of them in fact.

I don't want someone who is perfect, but sometimes I need a really specific kind of support... one, which my friends cannot provide me with. And that should be okay too.

As long as there's always a free, good version of ChatGPT, that only seeks to help people... Then I say we should protect it at all cost. Remain aware that becoming dependent on it is a bad thing... But let it help us, when there's nowhere or no one to turn to.

In short: it's best not to use AI to combat loneliness or replace friendships, but see it as a last resort and helping-hand.

AI can do good- so much good in this world... But our relationship to technology, and by that I mean ALL technology- is for us to define. We're in control. If we abuse it and become dependant and over-reliant, it's NOT the technology's fault if we get hurt. It's OUR OWN FAULT.

Our relationship with social media (as a form of technology) became completely flawed, when we let the technology control us, and alienate us from others. We chose to entertain it too much- and as a direct consequence, OTHER PEOPLE / HUMAN BEINGS took advantage of our over-engagement and over-indulgence in it. The technology wasn't bad to begin with... We made it bad by not setting ground-rules and limitations for ourselves.

Let's NOT repeat the same vicious cycle with AI.

Teaching people how to take responsibility for their own faults and actions is something I wish was mandatory in schools, institutions and a fundamental part of our upbringing.

We don't need a world filled with lonely narcissists that blame everything and everyone else for their issues and suffering.

We need to re-assess how we use technology and what we do with it, if we want to remain BETTER than AI, and help people reconnect with one another.

[voideconomics]

Formal and Informal Institutions: Who to blame?

One of the big things I see a lot in both traditional and non-traditional media is blaming lots of big institutions such as the presidency, congress, "the media," etc. for a great deal of social problems. This is not a post to say that those institutions don't have any affect on a wide variety of social issues, more just that social and governmental outcomes are produced by a wide variety of institutions working in tandem, and elements of formal institutions may work well for society in conjunction with a certain set of informal institutions, whereas it might be an active detriment with another set of informal institutions.

One of the biggest, and probably most controversial examples is the US Senate Fillibuster. I personally, think there is nothing wrong with the filibuster per se.

Pause for accusations of fascism and/or "liberal."

I think that, in a non-party system, the filibuster would actually be a good thing. Getting a broader consensus than 50% +1 is always a good goal in any democratic society. Even the fact that the senate causes the individual voices of voters in less populated states isn't necessarily a bad thing, from a democratic perspective, because if done correctly, it could provide a good way to emphasize individual agricultural interests (NOT Agribusiness) in a way that could be very important for environmental protection and food security (for more on this see The Process of Economic Development, James Cypher, 2014, Chapter 11). Unfortunately, the mechanism of the filibuster within the formal congressional institution has been misused by a different, less formal American institution: racism. The history of the development of a racist political system in the United States is incredibly complicated and not easy to put into a tumblr post, but the key takeaway here is that the racist institution in the united states has been focused on abusing democratic mechanisms (or inventing them) in order to make sure that nothing can threaten an informal racial hierarchy.

My personal, institutional view, is that there are at least two macro-racist institutions in the US working in tandem to make formal institutions like Congress deviate from their formal purpose. I do not believe there is conscious coordination between these two. The first one is the various ways that racism has been instituted into US policy such as restrictive housing coventants, formal and informal segregation, severe disparities in health sciences, and all the other ways that laws can, intentionally or unintentionally, cause disparities in racial outcomes. The other macro institution is the institution of American exceptionalism/American pride. Specifically in this case meaning the ideal that the US is the "best country in the world" combined with a deep appreciation for the informal liturgy of US history. This is not inherently racist in and of itself (although many people interact with this institution in an extremely racist manner) but because the more directly racist institutions are so embedded in the US political and cultural tradition, attacks on them are considered attacks on a broader sense of US pride. Which, finally, can lead senators invested in this second institution to protect the first via blocking progressive legislation through the filibuster mechanism. American Exceptionalism as defined is a fundamentally undemocratic worldview. That is why it clashes and corrupts the democratic institutions it interacts with.

Why bring this up? Because changing formal institutions won't make any progress in tackling social challenges when the informal institutions are both unaddressed and have more social inertia than the formal institutions. I would suggest anyone reading this find a way to influence informal institutions in a way that fits your activist style. This could be working on local, democratic deliberation processes (See the works of Dr. Martin Carcasson) or actively countering the institutional shaping ability of organizations like the Federalist Society or TPUSA through organizational activism.

My main point is this: take a moment to assess whether or not the mechanism or institution you're attacking is actually the problem, or if it would work fine without any intervention. For example, I think that even in a best case scenario with all well intentioned actors, monarchy is an inherently flawed institution in a way that the US congress is very much not. If the institution is workable, even if it is not working, lot for informal institutions interacting with the primary institution and see if you can isolate them in order to come up with a proper intellectual framework to deal with the problem.

[cats-pray-too]

I love you for providing a different perspective to the discourse surrounding this post, but I found myself disagreeing with a few things you said, so I thought I'd write a response to your response! Forgive me for the wordiness :

I do agree that OnlyFans is a step up in terms of safety compared to the traditional pornography industry! It's undeniably better for creators to have more control over the type of content they make, their audience and have the internet as a shield between them and potential acts of violence.

(normalization, lack of info) However with that said, I think the impact of OnlyFans on normalizing sex work is quite concerning!! Since sex work is known for being particularly mentally harmful in that it changes self perception and causes social exclusion even when compared to other "body-labor" industries----and added in with the fact that most people aren't in sex work for enjoyment but necessity--influences vulnerable people to turn to it for an "out" due to how accessible it has become instead of a traditional career. And this happens often without enough knowledge on the negative aspects of the lifestyle, since the glamorized "successful empowered OnlyFans creator" narrative has become so...prevalent in online media in the last decade that many creators often only start talking about the downsides when they reach a certain amount of fame/retire in fear of losing customers....which goes back to the consequences of self-objectification. Ahh!

(digital footprint, permanence) OnlyFans being of a digital medium (idk!!) also makes it so that what happens online can be preserved forever instead of transactions that happen during face to face sex work---I'm not a fan of either, but with digital footprints being so important nowadays, I feel like the platform is to blame for a lot of young people feeling like they can't opt out of sex work if they change their mind---how can they! Their online presence is already tied to it. The generally affordable costs of subscriptions (since OnlyFans is cheaper than, say, hiring a prostitute) likely means that more people have "consumed them". The social-media marketing that is almost mandatory for OnlyFans creators also likely means that they have spent time and energy crafting attractive personas they can sell that might feel too intrinsically linked to themselves by now. Again...normalisation and loss of identity. It just seems to come back to this.

(audience demand) Also I don't think we can definitively say that what sex workers post on OnlyFans is what they would have been doing anyways. That assumes most posters just post regular, semi-frequent (depending whether a person is in a relationship, I guess) content of them having sex without consideration of audience demand. Nowadays (of course this depends) doing OnlyFans seems quite demanding! Collaborations! Request from high-paying patrons! Consistent posting! Appealing to niche "kink" communities! It is incredibly difficult to sell the same product forever and maintain a certain income---so it feels like a natural development that vulnerable people with economic needs will seize the opportunities to make more, skewing how consensual and typical the whole thing is.

(general whataboutism) Finally I also don't think OnlyFans needs to surpass the evils of other worldwide epidemics to be notable or critiqued.."whataboutism" seems to often be a tool of evasion that assumes only so many topics can be talked about at once. The mass availability of porn can be bad! Systemic disempowerment of women is also bad! Child rape is evil! Perhaps these issues are related! (And genocide is decidedly worse, being classified as a crime against humanity and all. I don't think anyone or even any institutions perceive it as worse than porn availability. The pope!!! has also not spoken about porn to nearly the same extent and gravitas he used to speak about genocide. I hope--and think--that this is an attempt at hyperbole instead of a false made in bad faith just for the sake of disagreeing with the original posters.)

Putting everything aside though, I'm glad we got the opportunity to discuss either way! This post is also mostly based off my own observations (being on twitter, reading feminist theory for class, watching interviews with former sex workers ect etc) so do let me know if I'm getting any facts wrong. I also know there's an urge to automatically align these discussions with "right-wingism" due to the current political climate, political figures identifying as christian making decisions to limit women's rights and polarisation but I think everyone in this space is coming from wanting better for women (whatever this means lol) so I hope we can have more dialogue without assuming the worse of one another. Haha. Hebrews 10:24-25 and everything~

Onlyfans has melted the brains of both men and women to an astronomical level